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Monday, January 4, 2016

Weekend Highlights : The Polar Bear Plunge

I made a 30 before 30 list a few years back (click the link to get you there) & have been working on crossing off items ever since. #9 was participate in a Polar Bear Plunge. I did one in 2008, but it was jumping into the not heated pool of the cruise ship I was on, so I figured it didn't quite count.

On New Year's Eve, my friend Liz mentioned she was headed down the next morning & invited me to join. I immediately accepted! It was about 30 degrees out Friday morning & the water temp we were advised was 42 degrees. Brrr. After watching a few pros take the leap into the Monongahela River we stripped out of our coats & jumped in.

5+ years on the swim team, 2+ years as a lifeguard, and for a second I thought I had forgotten how to swim. My brain was telling my arms & legs to move, but they weren't moving. After what felt like an eternity I was able to move myself the few strokes to shore where two burley men hoisted me out of the river.

A few minutes later I looked down & saw this. I was so cold I hadn't even felt it.
2016 : 1
Jessie : 0

Saturday started off with the usual long run. I got in 8 miles before heading off to the grocery store.

I had lots of things to stock up on since I haven't ventured to the store since the middle of December & am starting my Running Whole30 today. I found an amazing deal on ground beef & went a little crazy, like 15 lbs worth of crazy. After cooking it all up & portioning it out I now have 36+ cups of ground beef in my freezer. Oops.

Saturday night was dinner & drinks at a friends house before an early bedtime. No shame in my game. Says the girl who left a New Year's Eve party early so she could be home & in bed before midnight...

Sunday was Date Night Day! The BF and I headed up to Moraine State Park to do some hiking.
We hopped on the North Country Trail which runs from North Dakota to New York & spent a few miles on that before taking an off shoot down by the lake.

We packed a thermos of soup & hiked a good 6-ish miles before heading to North Country Brewing, a brewery & restaurant about an hour north of Pittsburgh, for dinner.

This was a "last supper" of sorts before I start my Whole 30 today. The BF has agreed to give it a go with me (I am beyond excited by this). The food was delicious & we may have gone a bit overboard...but when a menu has pretzels & beer cheese, you cannot say no.

Kudos on doing the polar plunge! Crazy that you got injured from it though. But at least now you can say you did it! I've been to North Country Brewing before and really liked it. Have no idea if I was vegan at the time and what I got! Happy 2016!

I'm very impressed with your polar plunge! I can't believe you couldn't feel your bleeding knee though. One good thing about the cold I guess. I'd probably pick a artery clogging cheeseburger for my last meal. So I'd be very happy with an amazing deal on ground beef too. Thanks for linking with us Jessie. Happy New Year!

I am going to pass on the Polar Plunge! I can barley handle a cool shower, I'm not even going to think how this would feel but you my friend are amazing for doing it! I so wish my hubs would get on board with my goals of eating better, it's kind of counter productive when I'm trying to do good and he's eating pizza ya know. So I would say pizza would be a great last meal. I had a ball hiking around Stone Mountain an I'm ready to plan another one soon. Thanks Jessie for linking with us this week! :)

I was sort of shocked when the BF said he was in. He's usually the guy eating pizza & offering me a slice while I'm trying to make good choices. I think the man is just trying to get beach body ready for our trip in February, but hey, whatever gets him going! Haha.